Saturday, February 13, 2016

Window Shopping...... My trip to the Fabric Store

In the movie, The Preacher's Wife, there was a mother and daughter scene where Whitney Houston said it's o.k. to window shopping as long as you don't have any money in your pocket. Well that was my quest for today on this below freezing Saturday.My son has been getting on me about getting myself ready for our Holy Convocation in August. Although I am a planning at heart and by nature, when it comes to doing things for myself, I am the biggest procrastinator!! I seem to work better when I'm playing beat the clock.So this time I decided to take a little bit of heed in planning for August for my wardrobe. Last year I made all my outfits and it seemed to be huge success. So this year, I'm going to plan a little bit more in advance. A few weeks ago, I took the time to surf through IG (Instgram) and check out some of the fashion pages oriented towards church wears. I put together my fashion vision board of what I would like to wear and I emailed it to my children for the Yes or No.In going through my fabric stash, I see that I have no fabric that would be ideal for making any of these garments. Ugh!! Now that means that I have to make a fabric run. So the thing about this fabric run is..... Since it's not fabric spending time, I'm only going with my pics, pen, and notebook to shop out, price out - the type of fabric I will use and the amount it will cost me. That's it!! NO purchasing allowed. I'm not even taking my credit card. Just my license and my bus pass in the event that my car fails me. Already this is hard and I haven't even left the house. In my head I'm trying to figure out, what if I find fabric for under??????????? NOT THIS TIME!! I can do this... So with this determination, I'm off to Gaffney's in Philadelphia, PA. Wish me luck!

Ok I'm back!!! That was a hard task, but.......... I WON!!!!! I didn't buy a thing! I went with an agenda and my phone and I conquered the urge to spend.Here's what I did:I took the pictures that I set up for my wardrobe for convocation. I sought out which fabrics would be great in that style. I first took the pic, labeled it in my notebook, wrote down the price. All is left is for me to calculate how much I need and the cost. I did a little extra for future projects as well, but I never passed the register! #proudmoment So now I have it all mapped out in my sewing journal, so when I'm ready to buy, I'm prepared. Besides August is far away. I may change my mind 5 more times before I sew the 1st stitch.I really like this method of shopping. It allows you to plan and schedule your budget. I have it all in my head that every paycheck I have to set aside my coins to finance my new passion. I think it will work!! (fingers and toes crossed).So for all my Sew Sistas, try this method versus running out and buying out the fabric store and using your mortgage money to purchase your sewing addiction.Happy Sewing!